Professors Monthly: Christmas Edition

Professors Monthly is a new monthly column on the official Southern Virginia University blog. Each month’s guest post will be provided by a Southern Virginia professor on a topic of their choice. This month, instead of the usual routine, we’ve asked a handful of them to share a Christmas memory or tradition.

Matthew Georgeson, assistant professor of theatre:

Every evening in December, we read verses that tell the story of Christ starting with prophecies of Him in the Old Testament. We then read of His birth, ministry and Atonement. With each short verse, we have a picture and tell the simple story. My favorite is the one that we read on Christmas morning before we open presents. We read D&C 76:22-24 and each share our testimonies of Christ and tell that even though we have some nice presents, the best gift was from Heavenly Father and Jesus. They gave us the chance to live happy together forever with Them. It has been a wonderful way to start the day.

Richard Gardner, associate professor of biology:

Every Christmas Eve as I was growing up, my dad used to read us “Mrs. Goose’s Wild Christmas,” but we knew it better as “Three Ducks.” It is a silly kids story about tame goose and her wild cousin and their Christmas. On my mission, I got a package before Christmas, including an audio tape, and I put it in our tape player, and I was surprised to hear my dad reading “Three Ducks.” I had to explain the tradition to my companion. My father-in-law used to read my wife and her siblings “Wee Woofsky,” another animal Christmas story (about a baby bear that gets lost, but Santa brings him back to his parents on Christmas). Now, each Christmas Eve, I read “Three Ducks” to our kids, and my wife reads “Wee Woofsky” to them (along with Luke 2). We’ll be sending our missionary son emailed MP3s of us reading these stories.

Jane Harrington, adjunct instructor of English:

My family honors Jewish and Christian traditions, so our winter holiday is especially rich. Now that we have to travel far distances to get together, we focus more on food than gift-giving. Freshly baked breads and latkes are longtime favorites, but as we’ll be in Louisiana this year, there will surely be some jambalaya on the table. Can’t wait!